Vincent Ayar, West Bloomfield & Metro Detroit

Almost every chapter of Vincent Ayar's story sits within a short drive in Oakland County and the surrounding region. He lives in West Bloomfield Township. He studied at Walsh College in Troy. He worked at Foodtown Supermarket, a Metro Detroit grocery, and is an owner at Shoe Rack Outlet. And he co-founded Ooze in Oak Park, just north of Detroit's city limits.

That geography matters. It means the experience, relationships and reputation he built in local retail carried directly into the company he helped start.

Ooze began in 2015 in a 2,000 square foot warehouse in Oak Park with only the founding partners on staff. As the company grew, it expanded in place — by September 2019 it occupied about 42,000 square feet and employed more than 50 people.

Staying in Oak Park kept the company close to its owners and its workforce. Much of Ooze's shipping, marketing and design staff is local, and its distribution business, Ooze Wholesale (now Cannatron), operates from Oak Park as well.

Vincent Ayar has said the company is proud of its hometown but builds the brand for a national audience. That balance shows up in the business: products designed and shipped from Metro Detroit, distributed to more than 8,000 retail shops across the US and Canada.

Ooze also launched years before Michigan voted to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2018, which made it one of the Michigan-born brands that was already established when the state's market opened up.

When Vincent Ayar talks about expansion, he frames it around job creation. Growing from a partners-only team to more than 50 employees in about four years is growth that shows up in a community: paychecks, local hiring and skilled roles in design, marketing and logistics.

The Ooze Foundation, where Vincent Ayar is listed as President, is based in Oak Park and focuses its grants on Michigan organizations — including the Shades of Pink Foundation, the Chaldean Community Foundation, The Shelby Jane Seyburn Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. Its Oozegiving program runs community giveaways such as holiday food donations.

Read more about the Ooze Foundation, or explore the founding story of Ooze.

The places that define Vincent Ayar's career are all in Southeast Michigan, within a short drive of one another.